To the Best of Our Knowledge, 1-Month Subscription

Satisfy your hunger for new ideas with this interview show that explores the cutting edge of contemporary thinking in politics, religion, economics, science, the arts, and popular culture. Host Anne Strainchamps talks to some of the greatest thinkers, figures, and artists of our time. It's a radio salon where a playwright and a scientist, a theologian and a rock critic might all offer their views on, say, revenge. Inviting a diverse group of people with very different backgrounds to approach a subject creates a kind of depth and richness that's positively riveting.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Forgiving the Unforgivable

Are there certain acts, certain people who are beyond forgiveness? When you're hurt and the only way out of toxic bitterness and resentment is to let go, how do you summon the resolve to reach out to the person who hurt you most? This hour, the keys to living a more forgiving life.

To the Best of Our Knowledge, 12-Month Subscription

Satisfy your hunger for new ideas with this interview show that explores the cutting edge of contemporary thinking in politics, religion, economics, science, the arts, and popular culture. Host Anne Strainchamps talks to some of the greatest thinkers, figures, and artists of our time. It's a radio salon where a playwright and a scientist, a theologian and a rock critic might all offer their views on, say, revenge. Inviting a diverse group of people with very different backgrounds to approach a subject creates a kind of depth and richness that's positively riveting.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: How To Be Alone

If you've ever been alone on Valentine's Day, you probably know how isolating it can be to feel like the only single person in a world full of happy couples. But being alone doesn't have to be shameful. This hour, we're changing the script and making the case for the lovelorn, the loners, the bachelors and spinsters that there's nothing wrong with being alone.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: The Revenge of Analog

Do you miss turntables, vinyl records, cassette tapes, landline phones? Welcome to the analog revival – a movement to roll back digital dominance. This week, how headphones and MP3s ruined music, the pleasure of listening to old 78's, and the politics of nostalgia. The broadcast of this episode also featured a conversation with poet Fady Joudah for our series the News from Poems.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Parks and Recreation

"We live by wild mercy," Terry Tempest Williams writes. In this hour, she takes us to some of her favorite national parks, from Big Bend to Arches. We also explore the desert wilderness of Utah's Escalante area, and hear about a father and daughter's remarkable adventure into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Lauret Savoy says the American landscape also has a complicated history that can't be separated from the country's racism. And Robert Moor talks about the wisdom of trails.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Time Travel

Time plays such a big part in our lives, it's no wonder we're fascinated by the idea of escaping it. And what better way to escape it that to travel back into the past or forward into the future? This hour, we explore our obsession with time travel. Why is such a recurring them in movies and TV shows? And what can time travel teach us about ourselves?

To the Best of Our Knowledge: What's Wrong With Men?

The right-wing politics and hard-drinking bro culture of The Proud Boys is attracting young, white men from across the country. They share fratty hazing rituals and self-proclaimed "Western chauvinism." And with slogans like "feminism is cancer," and "venerate the housewife," they're fighting to make America great for men again. The Proud Boys' founder Gavin McInnes believes "95% of American women" would be happier at home, making babies. Where does his vision of "being a man" fit in America in 2018?

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Love + Evolution: Live in Madison

There's arguably no greater mystery than who we fall for. Why do some romances fizzle out, while others flourish, and grow into lifelong companionship? What can science reveal about lust, romance, and compassion? In a live show recorded onstage from the Majestic Theater in Madison, To the Best of Our Knowledge, in partnership with the Center for Humans and Nature, explored the science of love.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Could Psychedelic Drugs Save Your Life?

Back in the sixties, LSD was all the rage — not just in the counterculture but also in psychiatric clinics. Then psychedelics were outlawed and decades of research vanished. Now, psychedelic science is back — and the early results are extraordinary. A single dose of psilocybin can help people with addictions, PTSD and end-of-life anxiety. We'll examine this revolution in medicine, and explore the connections between psychedelics and mystical experience.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Philip K. Dick

Is this Philip K. Dick's world and are we just living in it? It sure seems like it these days, with new versions of his work continuing to fill the media landscape, 35 years after his death. There's the new movie, Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to the 1982 classic, Blade Runner, which was based on Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This hour, we explore Dick's life and the enduring power of his visionary, mind-bending science fiction.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Could Psychedelic Drugs Save Your Life?

Back in the sixties, LSD was all the rage — not just in the counterculture but also in psychiatric clinics. Then psychedelics were outlawed and decades of research vanished. Now, psychedelic science is back — and the early results are extraordinary. A single dose of psilocybin can help people with addictions, PTSD and end-of-life anxiety. We'll examine this revolution in medicine, and explore the connections between psychedelics and mystical experience.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Even Stranger Things

Did you know that U.S. military intelligence has a long history of working with psychics to try to discover enemy secrets? We examine this remarkable history, and take a deep dive into the paranormal - the scholars who study weird, uncanny experiences; and we'll even hear a couple ghost stories. Also, what a "ghost tour" in Savannah, Georgia tells us about the history of slavery.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: The Poem is You: New Voices in American Poetry

In this hour, we see how poetry can show us new ways to think about place and personal identity. Poetry is a powerful tool for crafting identity —as we find in the verse of Ojibwe hip-hop artist Tall Paul. It can also help us understand the places we live —as in Carl Sandburg's Chicago poems. And Quan Barry kicks off National Poetry Month with a new series, "The News from Poems," featuring original poems by five major poets that reflect on the anxieties raised by current events.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Life, Art, and Therapy

Whatever happened to psychoanalysis? It used to be the most influential science of the mind, but today its founder, Sigmund Freud, just looks like a sex-obsessed old man. Analyst Adam Phillips says we got Freud all wrong; he remains a radical thinker if we know how to read him. This hour explores the connections between therapy and art.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Wonder Woman

Hollywood is finally getting ready to give women superpowers. For decades, moviegoers only saw the likes of Batman, Spider Man, and Iron Man, but in recent years there's been a slate of strong female characters on screen. And there's more to come, including The Black Widow, Captain Marvel and the iconic Wonder Woman. This hour, we're talking about superheroines, in film and in real life.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft's weird tales of cosmic horror loom large 125 years after his birth. His literary tentacles have oozed their way into movies, books, games, and graphic novels. We explore Lovecraft's life, work, and legacy. Was he a literary master or a monster?

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Why Make Art?

We grow up scribbling with crayons and covering sidewalks with chalk, and then around middle school most of us stop. Maybe we think it's childish or just too hard. So what can we learn from the people who never stopped making art? We'll talk with activist artist Molly Crabapple and legendary painter/printmaker Frank Stella. And jazz pianist Craig Taborn reflects on a lifetime of improvisation.

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Can an Evil Man Be a Decent Person?

How can someone be a monster — a brutal dictator, a mass murderer, a serial killer — and up close seem like a decent, caring person? In this hour, we tackle a complicated question: what happens when our moral categories fail and we find ourselves feeling empathy for monsters? Is that wrong? And what does it say about us?

To the Best of Our Knowledge: How Do You Face the Hate on Your Doorstep?

For the first time since World War II, far-right and neo-fascist groups are winning converts and votes — all over Europe and also here at home. Why is it happening, and can it be stopped? In this hour, we hear stories from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Milwaukee suburbs. Each one begs the question: what do you do when fascism wears a familiar face?